Law Enforcement Technology

JUL 2015

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 15 of 63

16 Law Enforcement Technology July 2015 www.officer.com
EVIDENCE & FORENSICS
P
rocessing a crime scene—tak-
ing pictures, measurements,
notes and more—can be a la-
borious and pain-staking pro-
cess. Anything that can make the job
faster, while at the same time improv-
ing accuracy, attention to detail, and
preserving the scene for later review or
presentation to a jury, is a welcome ad-
dition to any police department.
Today, the technology mainly con-
sists of 360-degree cameras and laser
scanners, which accomplish different
things, both beneficial to law enforce-
ment. Police departments all over the
world are adopting these technologies
to varying degrees.
Meet a more robust camera
One of the real technological advances
in law enforcement has been the devel-
opment and adoption of high resolu-
tion cameras that are capable of taking
a multitude of pictures in a very short
time. They can catalog the entirety of
the crime scene, but with enough detail
to make it a worthwhile tool for investi-
gators and for presentation in court.
Some cameras are able to take
360-degree images, while others come
close. All users agree, however, that
these cameras offer tremendous ease of
use, great flexibility, and are a real tech-
nological breakthrough.
"The single most highly used piece
of equipment at a crime scene is the
digital camera," says Deputy Scott
Lehmann, Dane Co. (Wisconsin)
Sheriff 's Department. "It creates a
permanent visual record of the crime
scene in the state it was originally
found. Digital cameras allow the inves-
tigator to see the image and make
proper adjustments to ensure the per-
fect photo is taken.
"The old days of recreating a crime
scene using a tape measure and record-
ing the info on paper are gone," he
continues. "Thanks to advancements in
technology, diagramming and recreat-
ing a crime scene is done with Total
Stations, Panoramic cameras and now
3D Scanners."
Panoscan specializes in digital imag-
ing. The company's Mark III panoramic
camera shoots 360-degree images in up
to 580 megapixels. "The Mark II/MK-3
can achieve 360-degree captures that
are better than the human eye; [they
are] very good for picking up details
and preserving evidence at a crime
scene," says Ted Chavalas, president,
Panoscan Inc. "The Panoscan camera
is more of a visual presentation tool
to present in court to a jury. When
you show the images to a jury there is
no doubt about what they are seeing.
It depends on what the evidence is.
Some evidence presents well visually,
but other things you want are measure-
ments, which is why we developed the
portable 3D scanner. The Panoscan
camera can do some measurements
using photogrammetry, but it's not as
accurate as a 3D laser scanner."
In 360/panoramic photos officers
can create hot spots with a link to extra
information—close-ups, detail photos,
measurement information and more.
"The benefit of using a 360 camera
is when you are presenting it as evi-
dence," says Chris Dryden, commercial
director, NCTech Limited. "If all you
have is a standalone photograph with
no context, it's hard to get a sense of
where it is in the scene. The 360 photo-
graph provides the contextual relevance
so you can experience what it would
be like to be in the crime scene. They
can move around, left or right, up or
A new way to capture
crime
scenes
How 3D
scanners, laser
scanners and
advanced cameras are revolutionizing
investigation as we know it
by Keith W. Strandberg
Deputy Scott Lehmann from Dane County
(Wisconsin) Sheriffs Department captures a
crime scene.